Attendees represented over a dozen countries, including Argentina, United Kingdom, India, Peru, Australia, Mexico, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, France, Japan, Switzerland, South Africa, and Finland.

The conference, organized primarily by Boston's Bisexual Resource Center (BRC) and the Harvard Lesbian, Bisexual, and Gay Graduate Students (LBGGS) with support from the Multicultural AIDS Coalition (MAC) and BiNet USA, brought together bisexuals from around the world.

Extensive media coverage before, during, and after the conference included local and national television attendance, extensive print press, and bountiful radio coverage including a live broadcast from the conference on Houston's After Hours radio show.

The excitement generated by the large international crowd will enhance footage shot throughout the weekend by Director Elaine Holliman for her new movie, "Gone Straight – to Hell". Interest in the conference ran so high that a record 910 attendees arrived, an overflow of 30% over the expected number.

"This conference will be seen as a watershed in the world bisexual movement," promised primary conference organizer Wayne Bryant from the Bisexual Resource Center.

"We're seeing unprecedented interest in understanding bisexuality in a serious multicultural fashion. The bisexual movement has arrived at a new level of maturity. From here on, we'll begin to see large-scale regional conferences held in conjunction with the international conferences to accommodate the rapidly increasing global demand."

Several major United States national gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender advocacy organizations were presences at the conference.

At the conference, the global conference planning workshop set the location of the 6th International Conference on Bisexuality as Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 2000. Sydney, Australia has been chosen for the subsequent international conference in 2002.

To accommodate the dramatically increased interest in hosting large-scale international bisexual conferences, organizers announced that regional conferences, covering major geographical regions, will be planned for the intermediate years. This model is expected to apply in the future.

Groups from Vancouver and Rio de Janeiro, which both expressed strong interest in hosting an international conference, are expected to pursue large-scale regional conferences in the Americas in the near term.

"We'd like to thank the many dozens of organizers in Boston and worldwide who worked to make the conference a reality, and the Harvard organizations, both gay and straight, that contributed resources to make the conference possible," observed LBGGS spokesperson Kathryn Schnaible. "Having an event of this significance take place at Harvard has been very meaningful to many people."

Due to high demand, the Bisexual Resource Center and LBGGS announced plans to prepare and sell a videotape of conference highlights, including the powerful presentations by the keynote speakers. Connecticut State Rep. Evelyn Mantilla, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Kerry Lobel, and prominent bisexual minister and visionary Elias Farajaje-Jones delivered the conference's keynote speeches.

"The marked success of the conference's outreach efforts is expected to strengthen the multicultural nature of future bisexual events," noted organizer Lisa Sheehy. "We hope to support our sister communities in Latin America as they hold similar events, and to strengthen the cultural diversity of our own programs." The BRC is formulating plans to increase its outreach efforts and support services over the upcoming year. Those interested in participating in this exciting growth are encouraged to contact brc@biresource.org or call USA 617-424-9595.

In conjunction with the end of the conference, the Bisexual Resource Center announced its new website, http://www.biresource.org, and plans to issue an updated copy of its flagship publication, the Bisexual Resource Guide, later this year. The Bisexual Resource Guide lists all known bisexual groups, internet resources, and organizations worldwide.

The conference organizers have also announced plans to assemble an extensive post-conference review document to be archived at the Bisexual Resource Center and forwarded to the organizers of future international conferences. This step will insure that the global knowledge base is preserved for the expected future large-scale bisexual conferences.

ABOUT THE BISEXUAL RESOURCE CENTER

The Bisexual Resource Center is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing information and educational resources to bisexual groups around the world. The center has hosted six regional conferences on bisexuality and three BiFests since 1984 and publishes the Bisexual Resource Guide.

The conference was not sponsored by Harvard University nor by the Harvard University Science Center.